The Government today confirmed Stoke-on-Trent teachers will benefit from a pilot scheme to pay off part of their student debts.

It will initially target teachers specialising in science or modern foreign languages to help ease recruitment and retention problems.

The full details have yet to be released, but eligible teachers will be reimbursed for at least a year’s worth of their university tuition fees. It will be open to staff in the ‘early years’ of their careers.

The Sentinel reported earlier this month that Stoke-on-Trent was likely to be named as one of 25 pilot areas for the student loan ‘forgiveness’ scheme.

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Education Secretary Justine Greening confirmed the plans during a speech at a Teach First conference today.

It is part of a package of measures, including revamping maths bursaries for new teachers and a £30 million investment in tailored support for schools facing the most significant teacher recruitment problems.

Nationally, around 1,700 science teachers and 800 languages teachers a year will be eligible for the student debt help.

During her speech today, Ms Greening said 'great teachers help unlock children's talents'.

She added: "I’m keen to look at how we can strengthen the pipeline of teachers going into parts of our communities that would most benefit from great new teachers.

"That’s why we’ve announced that we’ll be piloting the teacher loan reimbursement scheme in more difficult parts of the country so that we can really improve not just retention, through a stronger career path, but critically recruitment as well."